


Unspoken Promises

by ophellos



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/M, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-23 02:08:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8309647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ophellos/pseuds/ophellos
Summary: “So, marriage, huh? I thought you two were having issues.”“That’s why I’m buying her a ring, instead of stealing one.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Elate Week (elateweek.tumblr.com) using the prompt promise.

Nate has been in uncomfortable situations before. He’s been shot, stabbed, been chased by zombies and giant mystic-tree-sap-fueled blue monsters, and been thrown in jail more times than he can count on both hands. This, however, was a dire situation that needed backup. He quickly glances around to check that no one is watching him as he inputs Sully’s number into his phone. He taps his foot anxiously until the old man picks up.

“Hey, kid.”

“Sully I need help,” Nate says, trying not to sound as out of his depth as he feels.

Over the phone, Sully immediately kicks into business mode, his voice sharp and commanding. “Where are you? Did a job go south?”

Nate pulls at the collar of his shirt, glancing around the jewelry store, shooting a smile at one of the hovering sales associates who watches him nervously. “What kind of jewelry do women like?”

Sully is silent for a second. “What?”

Nate turns to fiddle with one of the necklaces on display. “I…I’m thinking about proposing.” He finally admits. “I don’t know what kind of rings Elena would like. She doesn’t wear a lot of jewelry.”

Sully huffs on the other side of the line. “Kid, you gave me a heart attack. I thought this was an emergency.”

“It is!”

“Right.” Sully chuckles in that familiar way that Nate knows he’s also rolling his eyes. “So, marriage, huh? I thought you two were having issues.”

Nate really doesn’t want to talk about it. He groans. “That’s why I’m _buying_ her a ring, instead of stealing one.” He drops his voice at the end of his sentence, not wanting the workers to get any more suspicious than they already are. “She keeps pressing me to find a legal job. I know Nepal was a close call for both of us but…”

“Hell, it’s only been a few months. Anyone would be traumatized after that.”

“I know that!” Nate answers sharply. “Listen, I just wanted your opinion on rings, not a therapy session.”

After a moment, Sully lets out a long breath. “Elena’s not the type to go for a huge ring,” he finally says. “Get her something shiny but simple.” Nate nods because that makes sense. He thanks Sully and lets him go, stubbornly refusing to pay attention to the worry in Sully’s goodbye. Everything will be okay because he’s going to buy Elena a ring.

He migrates over to the ring display, fingers itching to reach through the glass display case and feel them in his hands. Behind the counter, the associates are gathered together and whispering, probably trying to decide whether to check the security footage to try and catch him stealing.

An hour later, he leaves the store, wallet lighter after paying the few thousand dollars in cash—the cashier’s eyes had bugged out of her head and Nate uneasily wonders if it’s unusual for customers to pay in cash—and with a small appointment card in his hand, a date for him to come and pick up the sized ring.

 

* * *

 

They buy their wedding bands together, giggling and in love. They can’t keep their eyes off of one another and when they get back to their small apartment, they can’t keep their hands off of one another either. The moment their front door swings shut, Nate is pushing her against it, hands tilting her face up so that he can drop kisses on her neck. She barely has the self control to tell him to stop when his kisses turn biting because _wait, I have to be on camera tomorrow—wear a scarf—it’s June!_

He drops to his knees in front of the bed, head nuzzling between her thighs and then he’s licking her open and she fists her hand into his hair. Her engagement ring glitters in the sunlight that falls through the open drapes next to them and she lets her eyes linger on it—on that promise that things will be okay—until Nate draws out a moan from her through his tongue and she lets her head fall back and her eyes squeeze shut.

 

* * *

 

She rips her wedding band off, tears blurring her vision. She is standing over her jewelry box, staring down into it as she holds the metal ring over it. This feels final and she knows it shouldn’t feel like this. _If this really was the final gesture_ , the more logical side of her argues, _I would be holding the ring over the trash instead._

Instead of tossing it down with the other pieces of jewelry she owns (most of it things Nate picked up for her over the years, things he thought she wouldn’t be able to tell that he had stolen) Elena scoops up her engagement ring and holds the two rings in each palm. Promises, each of them. Promises that things would get better, that Nate would pull himself out of whatever mania-fueled path of destruction he was going down this time.  


Broken promises, now.

She lets the tears fall. She doesn’t know how many times she has cried in the last few weeks, but it never seems to end. It’s as if she is filled to the brim with tears and she hasn’t even begun to deplete the supply yet.

She puts her wedding ring back on, drops the engagement ring back into the jewelry box and moves it over to a cardboard box to pack away. She can’t fix her marriage and she can’t fix Nate, although she tried, god did she try.

 

* * *

 

Sullivan wanders into the kitchen and puts his half-empty beer onto the counter. Out in his apartment, he can hear the clink of bottles as Nate and Charlie continue to research together, their voices jovial and tipsy. They pore over their journals, comparing notes and maps and teasing each other over handwriting. He wasn’t in the mood tonight.

He pulls out his wallet, untucks the ring from the pocket it had been wedged in for the last few months. He turns it over, feeling the heavy weight in his hands. There’s a small dent in the side, slightly warping the shape of the ring. It is the only reminder that Nate launched it across the room at the wall one drunken night. Sully had found it and pocketed it, had felt guilty the next day when Nate walked from room to room trying to act casual as he searched for it. He didn’t say anything to Sully, but they had been in each other’s lives for 20 years and Sully knew Nate’s nervous habits and tells.

Sully almost caved when Nate had fallen even more depressed after that but he knew if he gave it back, it would just end up on the floor with another dent. So he kept it, guilty but protective. A week later, Nate throws himself deeper into tracking down Marlowe, hardly sleeping and surviving on coffee, beers, and take-out food that he only eats when someone reminds him to.

The last time Chloe had checked in she took one look at Nate hunched over a map, dark circles under his eyes and a tremble in his fingers, and she met Sully’s eyes over his head. Sully shrugged and shook his head because everyone is powerless to do anything but watch Nate closely when he’s in this place.

Sully is brought out of his thoughts when Charlie’s voice calls into the kitchen. “Sully, be a darling and bring me another beer, yeah?”  


His fist closes around the ring and then he tucks it back into his wallet.

 

* * *

 

Their room is dark and it takes ten minutes for Nate’s eyes to fully adjust to the lack of light. He is exhausted: emotionally, mentally, and physically depleted. Cuts and bruises and sore muscles cover his entire body and the blanket over him feels like it’s suffocating him. 

Despite everything, he’s happy. When he looks next to him, he can see Elena’s profile, the shape of her body under the sheets. As he shifts onto his side to face her, he sees that her eyes are open as well. 

“Hey,” he says into the inches between them. It feels like a 10 mile wide ravine, though this is the closest they’ve been in a long time during a quiet, peaceful moment.

She smiles at him, a soft smile, one that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Hey.”

Nate reaches carefully over the divide, slow and hesitant and cups the side of her face. When Elena doesn’t pull away, he rubs her cheek with his thumb. Her eyes flutter shut and she sighs. “I missed you,” she admits.  
He wants to say that he missed her too, that he loves her, has never stopped loving her. He wants to tell her that every time he came near death in the last few days, she had been on his mind just before his consciousness blacks out. He wants to tell her that he’s sorry, that he should have chosen her over the adventure, that he won’t do it again.

Nate reaches for her hand instead, intertwines their fingers. The metal of their rings click as they connect and the sound is grounding. Promises can wait until the morning. They aren’t okay, haven’t been okay for a long time, but they’ll get there.


End file.
